North Carolina Legend Jay Turner Leads Rockingham AMRA Nitro Winners

When the world’s largest all-American motorcycle drag racing series holds their largest event at one of their marquee tracks, you know you’re in for a great weekend of Harley-Davidson drag racing. And so it was at North Carolina’s Rockingham Dragway for the PennGrade1 American Motorcycle Racing Association (AMRA) Jim McClure All-Harley Nitro World Finals on October 25-27, with an international field of 40 nitro bikes on the property and riveting gas class competition.

Circle M Ranch/Dove Fuels Top Fuel

Few racers (or none) carry on the legacy of the late, great Top Fuel Harley legend McClure better than North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Famer Jay “Bulldog” Turner, and Turner really delivered. Riding the AB Steel bike of Randal Andras, Jay qualified number one in the twelve-bike Circle M Ranch/Dove Fuels Top Fuel field, ran low ET of every round of eliminations, won the race in an all-Jay Turner Racing final round, and secured the season championship.

Turner faced teammate Tii Tharpe on his Spevco bike in the final, with Tharpe taking the tree by an extra slim .0009 and both bikes flaming side-by-side into the Rockingham night. But Turner’s bike had been the class of the field all weekend and stayed that way, running 6.26 at 216 miles-per-hour to Tharpe’s 6.54 at 197.

“You know, all wins are good wins,” said Turner. “This is a big race. Biggest race of the year. Phyllis (McClure) is like a second mother to me, Jim was a hero, one of the greatest of all time. Winning that race is always special. Was great having her there. She’s a special person to me.

“We wanted to win bad. We worked hard for it. We prepared hard, ran good. We didn’t want to just win, we wanted to run good.”

And he did. Turner came out of the box with what used to be Ryan Peery-style consistency, but running a tenth better than former champ Peery would in his exceptionally consistent days.

“Randal’s bike’s fast, it’s been fast all year,” continued Turner. “We didn’t run worth a shit at Bowling Green with that bike, but the track wasn’t very good there. And I had a good feeling that we would be in good shape at Rockingham, because I expected the track to be good, and I was right.

“We made one test pass on Friday, and ran 6.40 something, which was good enough to have a baseline for Saturday. And then we just improved every run in qualifying. Would’ve run a really good pass in the third round of qualifying, But it just didn’t quite make it to lean out and it dropped a hole, or it probably would have been a .16 or .17.

“And then we just carried over into Sunday, and we had a couple singles because of the ladder and breakage. We ran as hard as we thought we could, to keep lane choice and to win the race.

“When you race for a long time at places, everybody has their own lane. I like the left lane (at Rockingham). Sometimes the sun can be a problem there if you’re in the right lane. But it was overcast on Sunday most of the day, so that didn’t really matter. Whether both lanes are identical or not, once you get in your lane, you want to stay in it.”

The all-JTR final was another goal for Turner. “That was a good way to finish the year on a high note.

“Thanks to Dorothy (Olson), Rex Harris, Benny and Brenda Knott, Jeremy Hoy, Justin Heinle. Special thanks to Chris Smith for coming in and doing a fantastic job of servicing the bike every round. Took a lot off me. I didn’t have to worry about it, allowed me to really focus on riding. And Randal for letting me ride his bike, and JT (Toth) and Marianne (Miller).”

Jay also thanked sponsors AB Steel, K&K Marine, JT Auto and Cycle, and AB&H Excavating.

Nitro Funnybike

Still working to finish his own Top Fuel bike damaged in a 2023 season-opening crash, Bad Apple Racing’s Jimmy “Mac” McMillan jumped at the chance to ride injured Armon Furr’s beautiful Nitro Funnybike at Rockingham.

Normally, McMillan would be helping his Bad Apple teammate Cameron “Flash” Gunter in the NFB class. “I got off the phone (with Furr) and as it was beginning to sink in, it hit me…something I didn’t even think about,” recalled McMillan. “I normally race Top Fuel. Armon’s bike is set up for Nitro Funnybike, the same class my teammate Cameron is in. I get to race Cameron! This weekend was looking better than ever, what could go wrong?

“Friday comes and we make two test passes. Everything is looking good. Saturday’s qualifying yields better results as we find ourselves qualified number two right behind Cameron. His bike is strong, and he is really getting after it this year, so the finals is where I wanted to meet him.

“Sunday starts looking over at Racin’ Ray Robinson on his mount dubbed ‘Big Nasty,’ the bike that I believe holds both ends of the NFB records. I did my best Armon Furr burnout and rolled all the way to the line, bringing a huge plume of nitro exhaust with me. Tailwinds are awesome until you can’t breathe or see from your own smoke show.

“With both eyes dumping tears, the tree was a big yellow mess. So I closed one eye to let it clear up and staged with the blurry one resulting in a .155 reaction time—the (my) worst of the weekend. Ray matched my light with a .158 and I opened my other eye at the hit and got there first with a 6.94 at 199 to Ray’s 7.20 at 194.

“After finishing the between-round service, right before the warm-up for round two, the guys spot a chunked tire. Oh no. Do we have a tire? There’s a time limit between rounds and changing a tire is not a quick thing. Team OCR had a new tire and knocked it out quickly and was ready before they called us to the lanes. I was impressed.

“This round we found ourselves paired up with Michael Balch and this was a close one. I got a little advantage on the tree with an .068 to his .083 and stayed out in front as Michael was charging, but he ran out of real estate. Another 6.94 at 193 was enough to keep Michael’s 7.03 at 202 behind us. That was a close race, only a tenth at the stripe.

“During the shutdown though, I heard some knocking which sounded a lot like a wrench being slung by a monkey on nitro… After the service, the guys find that the engine does not want to turn over, so they remove the engine pulley to discover several bolts broken and one backed out. A fixable thing at the shop but not something you want to try to fix at the track, so a new pulley needed to be sourced. Oh no again. We don’t have one, not sure if we can find one. Then Armon shows up with a back-up pulley and saves the day again. They buttoned it up and prepared to get ready to fire it for the warmup.

“Just then, Cameron tells me that the monkey jumped over to his pit and tore up his clutch. They need some time and would like to sit this round out. No problem, we can wait and give him time to fix his bike. Due to the high number of bikes in the other two nitro classes, they have an extra round of competition which allows us the opportunity to skip a round if all parties are willing. My day was already made, I get to run my buddy in the finals…but that’s not what that monkey had in mind.

“While Cameron and Team Bad Apple were thrashing on his ride, we fired ours up and that Monkey decided to toss the front pushrods across the pit. Oh no… again. This is not a normal thing, and usually means we have catastrophic failure…or as I like to say, rapid unwanted disassembly at the molecular level. Suddenly we were all thinking our day was done…but looking at the pushrod, the tip of the ball was missing.

“I head over to tell Cameron that now we need the extra time. Upon removing the rocker box, we learned that the ball failure led to the lash cap leaving its home and landing in the exhaust spring. When the cam tried to open the valve, the lash cap was pinched and effectively coil bound that spring and kicked the pushrods. The engine had compression, and the valves were sealing so we are good if we can find the proper length pushrods. Dodged a bullet there.

“Cameron loaned us a couple of pushrods and team OCR started reassembly and prepping to fire again. We have now been called to the lanes, no time for any more monkey business. While getting my leathers, I hear a big boom from the direction of the OCR trailer. Shit. I run over and see that Armon’s bike backfired through the front cylinder throttle body and BROKE the throttle plate in half. I think for a split second we all thought we were done…again…and just then Rex came over to see what that boom was and push us all to keep going. Next thing I know, Ryan Peery is handing me a new throttle body and stack telling us to get after it and they got it on and running…the idle was off, but there was no time to dial it in, we had to go.”

After putting an aggressive tune-up in the bike, Furr pulled McMillan aside and said “We’re either gonna win, or…”

“Or blow the tire off?” finished McMillan.

Well, they did both. After taking the tree by a substantial .126 margin, Jimmy Mac immediately had to go into panic mode. “I suddenly realize I’m not going anywhere fast…that throttle caused the front cylinder to drop out and we only left on the rear cylinder. I close the throttle and count…’one one thousand, two one thousand’ in hopes that it will light, then roll back in…BOOM. Big flash, but it’s still running so I stay in it and look over to see Cameron off the throttle heading towards center and taking out a cone as he passed me.

“I knew I won at that moment and lifted but Cameron didn’t know he crossed or hit a cone so he got right back in it and put on a hell of a smoke show for us. It was messy, but we got the win, and Cameron won the championship. So proud of him!

“A very big thank you to Armon and team OCR, to Tracy Kile and the Bad Apples, my crew—Michael, Jason and Jake. My amazing wife Stacey, our wonderful family and friends, Harley-Davidson University and my HDU team, and all the people who offer support and love online and in person. Thank you all so much.”

Furr dedicated the win to friend and sponsor, the late Marty Williams.

Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel

Bad Apples were floating to the top of the barrel all around, including Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel. “Bad Apple Mary” Dangrow had a career weekend, qualifying number one and racing through the full 16-bike field to meet defending class champion Sam White in the final.

Mary took the tree by .052 and kept her lead with a 7.35 at 165 to the 7.53/161 run by White, who retained the number one plate.

“As everyone pretty much knows already, after Hurricane Helene reeked its havoc in Asheville (where she and her man Tracy Kile live), it was up in the air whether we would be able to attend The Rock at all. As time passed, we decided we were going to make it no matter what if only for a little bit of normalcy for a few days.

“We made one test pass on Friday just to see how things with the bike were standing and with a 7.31 right off the trailer, we felt pretty good about where we were.

“As many may or may not know, Pro Fuel is a weighted class, and we have a minimum we must weigh depending on the cubic inch of our motor. AMRA began weighing the Pro Fuel bikes at this race after every pass. I knew my bike was legal because we made a trip to the scales every Saturday morning prior to qualifying at every race and this race was no different.

“Saturday morning came and I had an ‘OOPS!’ moment. In first round of qualifying I ran a 7.35, putting me in the field with a pass we were very happy with. I rushed back to the start line to be there for Cameron’s and Tracy’s passes and Randy took my bike to the pit to start the maintenance on it. Standing there talking to Tracy a light came on…’Oh shit! I forgot to weigh in!’ Jon Wayne Stephens (crewman) and I did our habit of returning in front of the stands and we rode right past the scales. So, I walked up to Greg (AMRA boss Greg Baugh) and let him know I did not weigh and my first round of qualifying was thrown out. As a class with a specific weight minimum, I fully support this new procedure.

“So I went into Q2 not yet qualified, with a tuner (Kile) not exactly thrilled with me. Thankfully, our Q2 pass we went better with a 7.349. Prior to making that pass, Stacey (Kelso) placed a piece of tape on the dash of the scooter for Jon Wayne that said ‘WEIGH!’ We didn’t forget to stop at the scales for the rest of the day.

“As we moved into Q3 after dark, the air got better and things got cooler, and we felt good about how the bike had been running. I was told later that as I was doing my burnout, Tracy told Dorothy (Olson of Jay Turner Racing) that I was going to run my first .20s pass. He was right. We ran a 7.25, taking the number one qualifier spot.”

A first for Mary, and a personal best. “Not to mention the celebration at the end of the track with Jon Wayne, Tracy, and Jason Adams that cost us a broken brake lever on our scooter. It crashed to the ground when TK jumped off to give me hugs.

“We went into first round eliminations thinking all was well with the bike, but the throttle gremlin jumped in overnight and my throttle stuck not fully opening, giving us an 8.08. Thankfully that was enough to win the round (against Al Balice).

“Tracy, Jake, and Randy fixed the issue and in E2 (against Kenneth Hultman) we returned to better numbers with a 7.28. We moved onto E3 facing Rocky (Jackson), who is a very tough competitor. This entire Pro Fuel field is full of tough competitors, and we never take anything for granted. We won E3 against Rocky, putting us in the final against Sam.

“Sam and I have faced off against each other several times and we always enjoy that match-up. With both of our bikes running very close numbers, we knew this was going to be a good race. With Tracy getting a handle on the Maxx ECU, we went into this round feeling confident. Thankfully everything came together. Tracy did his job as the tuner, and I did my job as the rider and we won. Rockingham is a special place and winning at that track means a lot to us.

“Previous to this year my bike never had any type of computer or data gathering system. At the beginning of this season, we put the Maxx ECU on the bike and we dedicated this year to gathering data and getting to know how my bike reacts to changes. I would say Tracy is getting a pretty good handle on things and we have only scratched the surface of what this system is capable of. The numbers that I was able to run at this race were all made possible because of TK.

“It has been a great year for our team and it couldn’t happen without the love and support of everyone. I’d like to thank Randy and Brenda Jackson for crewing on my bike and running the Bad Apple Chuck Wagon to feed us all. Jon Wayne Stephens for crewing this season and being my calming guru. Jake Anderson, who was shadowing Randy and Jon Wayne this weekend, learning the Pro Fuel process as he will be crew chief on Stacey’s bike next year.

“I want to thank Tracy Kile, the love of my life, whose confidence in me is bigger than my own. He took this year off from riding for a couple of reasons, one of which was to help us gain an understanding of the Maxx ECU. Without his support none of this would be possible for any of us. He leads the Bad Apple team teaching new riders, tuning, building and working on all of our bikes. Drag racing is his passion, and we appreciate him more than words can ever say.

“Most of all I want to thank God, who deserves all the glory. What we do is not something that everyone can do. The ability we have is a gift and we are all blessed to have received it.

“I’d like to thank my sponsors Fairview Tavern, Capone Landscape, Vanson Leathers, Trick Works, Hawaya Racing Products, and Victory Fuel for your support the entire 2024 season. Also, Thank you to the Bad Apple Nation for your ongoing support of our team. We appreciate you and look forward to seeing you all in 2025.”

Shutdown Area

Added treats at Rockingham were many passes by the outstanding blown Harsh V-Twin out of Finland, built by Jaska Salakari and ridden by his son Elmeri. Shutting off around 1000 feet, Elmeri ran a best of 6.23 at only 185 mph.

Kevin Cleary also made a pass on his classic “Hell Bound Train” vintage nitro Sportster.

The PennGrade1 AMRA Jim McClure All-Harley World Finals was such a big event that two race coverage articles are required. Look forward to gas classes in the next edition!

AMRA thanks PennGrade1 oil, Zipper’s Performance, Hawaya Racing, Axtell Cylinders, Spevco, BK Electric, Johnny Mancuso’s Circle M Ranch, Dove Fuels, Baker Drivetrain and Thunder Max.

This story was originally published on November 8, 2024.

The post North Carolina Legend Jay Turner Leads Rockingham AMRA Nitro Winners first appeared on Drag Illustrated.